Mazda chief declares America's Roads a "rolling junkyard".

Jim O'Sullivan exclaimed that the average age of America's auto fleet made it a "rolling junkyard". The average age of a car in the U.S. today is almost 11 years. 15% of the fleet is 15 years old. With cars lasting far longer than they did in the past - I don't think the "junkyard" statement is fully warranted. People around me seem to be driving older cars for sure, but they seem to be taking better car of them than they did in the past as well. My own daily driver just turned 22 years old on 11-15-12. With 208,000 miles on it now it shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. What's your opinion on the Junkyard statement?

I think this really does speak to the increased quality of all cars in the past decade. Newer cars are becoming less and less improved over their predecessors in absolute terms and with the aforementioned high prices and economy it makes sense people are holding onto their cars longer.
_________________________2004 Land Rover Discovery II

Frisky_Dingo:When cars cost as much as they do, the requirements to buy one are as hard as they are, and people make as little money as they do, what do they expect??

Sign of the times.

Agreed entirely. My Dad bought his first new car while working part time at Friendly's. I worked 30+ hours a week in high school and barely had enough to keep my old jeep on the road. These days I could probably afford payments on something like the spark, assuming that I could even find a car loan!
--"If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking." -- George Patton

They really aren't. I look at my Santa Fe(now ten years old) and my Civic(eight years old) and when I had them, I cleaned them up in and out and they were looking GOOD! No rust, no rot, nothing! New cars are simply better built than they used to be. At least some are.

I agree with all of you. New cars are just better built with a much better dealer service programs that help extend the car's life. Cars also have warnings and lights that remind owners for maintenance when it's needed and limp modes to protect the vehicle in case of emergency. My 14 year old Silverado has all those things.
GM to the end.

I agree with the general opinion that cars are much better than they used to be.

I have a 2003 350Z with 172,000 miles that has seen probably 30+ track days and even more AutoX. Even with all that hard driving, the car still runs great. I'll probably keep it for a couple more years and then see how the next Mustang Boss looks, or whatever comes after the 370Z, or maybe save for a Cayman. Either way, my Z will be close to 12 or 13 years old by then, and probably will still be running great.

Junk it most certainly is not. I prefer to think of it as a future classic.

Well my Mazda 6 is almost 10 years old, this coming April is when it was built, we bought it in September of 2003. Plus with 147k miles on it. Although my Wife and I have been talking about possibly trading it off in the next 6 months....the big thing keeping us from trading it is the question do we really want payments again? It's nice having a paid off car. But it's getting close to making payments on the repairs we have been making the past 6 months....so we have some things to think of.
______________________________Red has more personal associations than any other color. Recognized as a stimulant, red is inherently exciting and the amount of red is directly related to the level of energy perceived. Red draws attention and a keen use of red as an accent can immediately focus attention on a particular element.

weird, somehow this duplicated.
______________________________Red has more personal associations than any other color. Recognized as a stimulant, red is inherently exciting and the amount of red is directly related to the level of energy perceived. Red draws attention and a keen use of red as an accent can immediately focus attention on a particular element.

Live2Drive_travman:Well my Mazda 6 is almost 10 years old, this coming April is when it was built, we bought it in September of 2003. Plus with 147k miles on it. Although my Wife and I have been talking about possibly trading it off in the next 6 months....the big thing keeping us from trading it is the question do we really want payments again? It's nice having a paid off car. But it's getting close to making payments on the repairs we have been making the past 6 months....so we have some things to think of.

My 2004 just rolled over 100,000 and I haven't seen anything on the market better than it yet that's a reasonable price. Midsizers these days are boring and underpowered.
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Live2Drive_travman:Well my Mazda 6 is almost 10 years old, this coming April is when it was built, we bought it in September of 2003. Plus with 147k miles on it. Although my Wife and I have been talking about possibly trading it off in the next 6 months....the big thing keeping us from trading it is the question do we really want payments again? It's nice having a paid off car. But it's getting close to making payments on the repairs we have been making the past 6 months....so we have some things to think of.

RedChocobo:My 2004 just rolled over 100,000 and I haven't seen anything on the market better than it yet that's a reasonable price. Midsizers these days are boring and underpowered.

I agree, the new mid sizers are not in the same league as the prior 6 cylinder equipped cars.

My Wife wants the 6's replacment to be mid sized about the same size as the current 6 and with a 6 cylinder. Not many of these out anymore.
______________________________Red has more personal associations than any other color. Recognized as a stimulant, red is inherently exciting and the amount of red is directly related to the level of energy perceived. Red draws attention and a keen use of red as an accent can immediately focus attention on a particular element.